BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Bloomsburg University women's basketball team snapped a four-game winning streak as the Gannon Golden Knight defeated the Huskies, 70-56, Saturday afternoon. The Huskies dropped to 5-4 on the year and 2-3 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) action while the Golden Knights improved to 8-3 on the year and 4-1 in the PSAC.
Freshman
McKenna Hayward (Ebensburg, Pa./Central Cambria) led the Huskies with 15 points and five rebounds while senior
Bella Ricci (Etters, Pa./Red Land) posted 10 points and had a pair of steals. Senior
Taylor Montana (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) added nine points and junior
Emma Saxton (York, Pa./Central York) led the team with five rebounds and three assists. As a team, the Huskies shot 37.9% from the field (22-for-58) and were 5-for-23 from three-point range (21.7%).
The Golden Knights out-rebounded Bloomsburg 43-27 for the game and forced 11 turnovers, scoring 15 points off turnovers.
It was a tale of two halves for the Huskies as Gannon out-scored Bloomsburg 48-27 in the final two quarters while the Huskies held a 29-22 lead at halftime.
Bloomsburg used a 6-4 run in the first three and a half minutes of the third quarter before Gannon scored five unanswered points to cut the Husky lead to four, 35-31. Hayward and Montana sandwiched a pair of jumpers around one from Tori Obenrader to push the Bloomsburg lead back to six, 39-33 with 5:14 to play in the third. The Golden Knights then went on a 10-0 run over the next four minutes to turn their six-point deficit into a four-point lead with 1:00 left in the third quarter. Ricci halted the run with 31 seconds left in the quarter to get Bloomsburg back to within one, 43-42, but Sam Pirosko drove to the basket and finished a layup at the buzzer to give Gannon a 45-42 lead with one quarter to play.
The Golden Knights extended their lead to six, 50-44, in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter before Bloomsburg got back to within two, 50-48, but that would be as close as the Huskies got for the remainder of the contest. With 52 seconds left in the quarter, McKenna drained the final three of the game for Bloomsburg to cut the lead to six, 62-56, but the Golden Knights hit eight free throws in the final 47 seconds to seal the 70-56 win.
After a defensive first half in which the Golden Knights led 9-8 after the first 10 minutes, the Huskies eventually tied the game for the seventh time at 22-22 with 2:45 to play in the second and closed out the half on a seven-point run to take a 29-22 lead at the half.
Gannon was led by Obenrader with 15 points and nine rebound while Chelsea Rourke chipped in 12 points and six rebounds. Haley Tewes added nine rebounds as well.
The Huskies will have the next week off for the holidays before returning to action on January 3, 2019 as Bloomsburg travels to Mansfield for a 5:30 p.m. PSAC contest.
